China to Allow Local Governments to Issue Bonds via Bank Counters

China is expanding a pilot program to allow retail investors to buy local government bonds at bank counters, in a bid to prop up demand in the bond market.

Retail investors can currently only buy local government bonds through the Shanghai or Shenzhen bourses. Regulators last month issued a notice to broaden the number of venues at which individual and institutional investors can buy local government debt to include bank counters, but this was limited to bonds already issued.